Counter-balance for chutes



(No Model.)

D. T. BENTON.

GOUNTER BALANCE FOR OHUTES. No. 425,994. Patented Apr. 22, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL T. DENTON, OF TOIVER, MINNESOTA.

COUNTER-BALANCE FOR CHUTES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,994, dated April 22, 1890.

Application filed February 4, 1890. Serial No. 339,126. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DANIEL T. DENTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tower, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Counter-l3alances for Chutes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in devices for counterbalances, designed more particularly for chutes for vessels; and it has for its object, among others, to provide an improved device of this character whereby the chute will be evenly balanced at any angle at which it may be placed. I provide a hollow counter-bal ance with provisions for filling the same with water to raise the chute, the water being discharged as the counter-balance falls. I may use this, or I may dispense with the same and make the counter-balance and the chute of equal weight. By this means less power is required to elevate the chute and more work can be accomplished in a given time, as less time is consumed in the elevating of the chute.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter appear and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, the novelty residing in the peculiar combinations and the construction, arrangement, and adaptation of n parts.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which, with the letters of reference marked thereon, form a part of this specification, and in whieh-- Figure 1 is a front elevation illustrating my improvement. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in both figures of the drawings.

Referring now to the details of the draw ings by letter, A designates suitable uprights arranged upon the deck, the line o: no indicat ing the level of the ships deck.

B is the chute, pivotally connected and ar ranged to work between two of these uprights, as shown best in Fig. 1, the said chute being of any known construction usually employed. on an ore or coal dock.

C is a flat wire rope or chain connected at its lower end with the chute near its discharge end-in this instance being shown as connected therewith by means of the chains A engaging eyes or equivalent devices a on the sides of the chute and held in a loop or ring Z) on the lower end of the rope or chain 0. The other end of this chain or rope G is wound upon a drum or pulley D, fast to the transverse shaft D, suitably supported in bearings at the upper ends of the uprights. This pulley is a flanged pulley, as shown in Fig. 1. This shaft runs at right angles to the chute and parallel with the dock. This shaft is provided at one or both ends with a suitable crank and handle D as shown in Fig. 1, by

which it may be rotated to elevate the chute when desired.

E is a flanged pulley on the shaft D, and wound on this pulley is the flat wire rope or chain F, carrying at its lower end a counterbalance G, adapted to move in suitable guides c in the uprights, as shown in Fig. 1.

This counterbalance and the chute should be of equal weight, so as to lessen the power required to elevate the latter. This may be accomplished by making the counterbalance in the form of a weight of the required size, 01, as preferred, by making the counter-balance in the form of a receptacle designed to receive a filling substance such as waterwhich is supplied thereto through a pipe H, connected with a suitable source of supply and running parallel with the shaft D. This pipe is provided with a suitable cock 6, and with a nipple or other suitable coutrivance f, through which the water passes into the receptacle, the said nipple and cook being arranged wit-hin suitable reach of the operator, as shown in Fig. 2. By the construction shown, as the chain or rope attached to the chute winds up, the size of the drum on which it is wound increases and the size of the drum on which the chain or rope of the counter-balance is wound correspondingly diminishes, so that the weight has the same power over the chute in the lower position that it has in the highest, thus equalizing the power and requiring less weight and power to elevate the chute.

hen the receptacle and water are employed, when the operator desires the chute to rise, he simply turns the cock to allow the water to discharge into the receptacle until it is full or enough has accumulated therein to raise the chute, when the chute rises and the receptacle falls. NVhen the chute is in its elevated position, the receptacle will of course be in the lowered position, when the water is automatically discharged by means of an automatic trip for the cock h at the bottom of the receptacle. This trip may be of any suitable construction adapted to perform the function required of it, and I have therefore not shown any special form in the drawings.

It will of course be understood that two or more sets of chutes and counter-balances may be arranged to be actuated by the same sh aft, if desired, by extending the shaft D, (indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1.)

What I claim as new is 1. The combination, with the horizontal shaft, the two pulleys thereon, the chute, and the receptacle, of the chains for the chute and receptacle wound upon the pulleys in oppocock arranged to discharge into the receptax cle, the cock on the receptacle, and a trip to open said cock as the receptacle descends, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DANIEL T. DENTON. Witnesses:

OoRA BROWN,

HERBERT DENTON. 

